ROADMAPS SEEN by the INQ reveal plans for AMD K9 Opterons to arrive in the first half of 2006, and gradually during that year to shove out the K8s into obscurity. The K9 processors will be introduced as the 870, 868 and 866 Opterons – with these chips being released during the first half of that year. In the second half of the year, the K9s will migrate to the top end 874 and 872 series, while the earlier introductions will shuffle their way down the Opteron line.
And further details have emerged of low power AMD chips for both the server and the mobile market – with 55 watt and 30 watt processors in AMD's lineup, as it moves to migrate to the 90 nanometer process. These will attack Intel in the blade and rack dense server market. There will be 846s, and 246s running at 55 watts as early as the first quarter of 2004. When K9s come using smaller processes, AMD hopes to achieve even lower wattages on the future chips. By the end of next year, there will be 840s and 240s at 30 watts, according to the roadmaps we've seen.
AMD will cut prices on its standard wattage Opterons as it introduces the new lower power versions – all indications are by a serious amount. That means a furious and fast price war between it and Intel on the server front for the whole of 2004.
News source: The Inq
